The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most powerful incumbents of that position in American history. While numerous second-in-commands had to settle for marginal or figurehead functions, Cheney held enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "actual president".
Bush objected to this portrayal and stated the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.
The Post-9/11 Era
At the head of a contingent of neo-cons that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney claimed the strikes transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.
Controversial Decisions
He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the harsh treatment of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was based on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."
But even at the time, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, carelessness, and recklessness: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be threatened (including "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "America should be postured to operate alone when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and suggested military action against Iraq.
Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a floor mural with a image of his predecessor's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.
Interrogation Methods
However it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement supporting attacking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush White House politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and physical pressure.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the torture, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to apprehend the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That's exactly what they did and they merit a lot of praise."
External Perception
Cheney enjoyed monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a advantageous way to operate, truthfully."
Business Interests
Debate over his corporate affiliations accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. While he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.
In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at billions.
It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the firm grew from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty
